this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2024
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-14
Snowden: OpenAI just went full mask off (x.com)
submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
18 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I personally don't trust Snowden. Looking at the difference between how he was treated and how Assange was treated. One guy gets to rot in prison, other guy gets movies made about him from Hollywood. Snowden is very much controlled opposition in my mind.

But that being said, I think he is truthful about OpenAI. Which sucks, because now I and many others love using chat gpt.

It's possible to self host these things though. I read an article about it here:

https://blog.lytix.co/posts/self-hosting-llama-3

But probably not worth the money for most people.

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[–] [email protected] 59 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Assange fled to a consulate in London. After years of annoying everyone in that small building he thought it would be smart to unveil sensitive information on the government of that consulate. So, they kicked him out by letting the British police in, now he's getting prison time because fuck freedom of press apparently. Snowden fled to Russia. He would have never seen the light of day if they would have cought him. Probably Guantanamo Bay torture for the rest of his life. So their situations are different, I don't know why that would make a difference to the trust in them.

Both have a strong moral compass, otherwise they wouldn't have done what they did.

I'd rather trust and believe whistleblowers with a very strong moral compass, acting in the interest of the general public, then big tech companies hoarding in our data, breaking copyright and privacy, all for those tasty billions. Those companies only have a moral code towards their own bank account.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago

Why do people keep saying that Snowden fled to Russia? Afaik he was on his way somewhere and had landed in Russia to get on a connecting flight when his passport was revoked, so he couldn't leave whichever country he was in, which happened to be Russia.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

he thought it would be smart to unveil sensitive information on the government of that consulate

I never heard of this, only the hygene problems. Do you have more info?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

He said that, and other cases, confirmed suspicions that Assange was still linked to Wikileaks. The president also accused Assange of having installed forbidden "electronic and distortion equipment" and of accessing the embassy's security files.

There was also the suspicion that Wikileaks was linked to an anonymous website that said the president's brother had created an offshore company, and leaked material included private pictures of President Moreno and his family. Mr Moreno denies any wrongdoing.

Source

His dramatic expulsion from the embassy follows a year of ratcheting tension between Assange and his Ecuadorian hosts, culminating in WikiLeaks publicizing a leak of hundreds of thousands of hacked emails mysteriously stolen from the inboxes of Ecuador’s president and first lady.

Source

[–] [email protected] 28 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Snowden is rather trustworthy simply because he risked A LOT by doing something he believed in. He's an international hero.

Self-hosting an AI chatbot takes 5 minutes and is very easy if you've ever used the linux terminal before.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Unfortunately, it's not so easy or useful if you don't have a powerful machine to host it with

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Depends on the model. Dolphin-mistral is like 4GB in size and runs on any somewhat modern cpu with reasonable performance. Larger models ofc should be run with higher end gpus at least, but even in hybrid mode (gpu+cpu) models like dolphin-mixtral (26GB) run just fine. For reference, I have a 5800x and a 6900xt, ollama installed in a distrobox container.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago

I think it's more complex than that. There's a reason he went to Russia, and it's not because Russia is a haven for political dissidents. He's a thorn in the US' side, and he's currently benefiting Russia by doing that, so he gets to stay. He probably also sold some intel to Russia as well.

I do think he's a hero, but I don't like that he's currently in Russia. I think the President should pardon him for whistleblowing and bring him home, but also never give him security clearance (or allow him to work with those that have it). I'm grateful for him outing constitutional violations by the NSA, but I'm also worried about his loyalties.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

One guy gets to rot in prison, other guy gets movies made about him from Hollywood

He's exiled in Russia.

Also here's a list of movies made about Assange:

https://imdb.com/list/ls049048610/

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Why would anyone downvote this obvious truth?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

Because it's obviously not true? At least part of it.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

I think most people are not spending enough time reading about propaganda and how it's used in 2020. Its very effective and people don't know they have been exposed to it.

We who live in the western world frequently believe propaganda is done by Russia and China but not by our own leaders.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

The Russian says he works for the Kremlin and he's on his way to go learn American propaganda techniques.

"What American propaganda techniques?" asks the American.

"Exactly," the Russian replies.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Both are true, but I firmly believe western propaganda is less problematic because at least dissenting media is allowed. It's still bad, but they're not equivalent. Russian and Chinese propaganda and censorship are like being locked in a room, whereas western propaganda is just putting billboards and ads everywhere, but you're able to close the blinds and turn off the TV.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

It's much more than ads and billboards. That's not propaganda at all. I would call that advertisements.

What I mean with propaganda is government agencies putting false information to the public and acting like it's true, for the purpose of swaying an opinion in the direction they choose.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

Sure, but they're also not taking down correct information. Russia and China do both, western countries preserve freedom of the press, so governments have less sway (though they often get big media outlets to ignore certain topics in exchange for continued press access).

Western propaganda is more nuanced and thus harder to detect, because it has to be. But good information still exists if you look, and usually makes its way to the mainstream eventually. It's subliminal, and most people don't change the channel or close the blinds, but at least they have the option.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

Here's the content in case anyone is blocking/avoiding X:

OpenAI has appointed Paul M. Nakasone, retired US Army general and former NSA head, to its board of directors.

Nakasone, who led the NSA from 2018 to 2023, will join OpenAI's Safety and Security Committee.

He will help improve AI’s role in cybersecurity by detecting and responding to threats quickly.

His appointment follows concerns over safety culture at OpenAI.

Source: The Verge

They've gone full mask-off: 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 trust @OpenAI or its products (ChatGPT etc). There is only one reason for appointing an @NSAGov Director to your board. This is a willful, calculated betrayal of the rights of every person on Earth. You have been warned.

The source is probably this article.